Top Ten Worst ‘Mortal Kombat’ Fatalities

The fatality is the main selling point of any Mortal Kombat game. The whole purpose of the fatality is to mock your opponent in a brutal and bloody fashion once you’ve beaten them to a mess on the floor. Often times they’re very nasty, and even in today’s somewhat desensitized media, can shock the player.

Sometimes however, the Mortal Kombat fatality chosen just doesn’t work. Whether it’s because it doesn’t make any sense, even within the boundaries set by the game, or it just isn’t that effective, some fatalities fail in their attempt to shock and amaze.

Like with the Top Ten Best Mortal Kombat Fatalities, it wasn’t easy picking out ten that there really bad. We did limit ourselves to only one per character. I did however, have to break my “regular-fatalities-only” rule, because there were a couple of other “-alities” that really bothered me.

WARNING: The content in this post is bloody and contains lots of nasty stuff. If you’re not old enough to legally purchase an “M” rated game, you should probably leave now. Or at least make sure no one’s watching you.

10.) Cyrax’s Self-Destruct Fatality (3/Ultimate 3/Trilogy)

Yes, this is a classic fatality of Cyrax. That is obvious. Doesn’t stop it from being a flat out stupid one.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_8jbdVXIhY

Think about it within the context of the game. You’ve already beaten your opponent and just one more blow will kill them. Why bother blowing yourself up to do the job? It doesn’t make any sense. It’s completely unnecessary, but not in the right way for a fatality.

9.) Sub-Zero’s Ice Grenade Fatality (II and Shaolin Monks)

This is another one that really doesn’t make a lot of sense. From the name you can sort of guess just what happened, but even then, it really doesn’t work well.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txSWPDuLI5w

How exactly does throwing that little ball of ice make an opponent’s entire upper half explode? The name implies that the ball enters the opponent’s body and then explodes, but even that doesn’t make a lot of sense. How can a ball of ice explode? Is that part of Sub-Zero’s abilities? The Shaolin Monks version had Sub-Zero freeze the opponent first, so it makes slightly more sense, but even then, you’re just left scratching your head.

Sometimes, when it comes to fatalities, you really have to stretch your suspension of disbelief. Such is the case with Kitana’s Kiss Of Death fatality. In any other medium, someone inflating like a balloon because someone kissed them on the cheek would just be stupid. In Mortal Kombat though, we go with it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmtDatkm2ag

That’s not my problem with this fatality, though. My problem is that it never goes away. Literally, in every game Kitana has appeared in, this has been one of her fatalities. What makes it even worse is that there have been very few times in which it’s been changed. Except for Ultimate 3 where they stretched instead of inflating, and MK VS DC where they don’t inflate at all, the move has been the same for years. It just shows unoriginality on the creator’s part, and really hurts Kitana’s standing in the series.

7.) Bo’ Rai Cho’s Hara-Kiri (Deception/Unchained)

This is one of the reason’s I broke my “normal-fatalities-only” rule. The hara-kiri was introduced in Deception and was an interesting subversion on fatalities as a whole. If you got beaten by your opponent and managed to put in the right button combo before they could, you’d get to kill yourself. This would prevent your opponent from having the satisfaction of finishing you off himself, and was a nice middle finger to them in the process. Some of them however, really didn’t make a lot of sense.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE4h1f-l-JI

So, Bo’ Rai Cho somehow inflates like a balloon (without the help of a kiss, I might add) and explodes, without any warning. How? Well apparently, he held in a fart for too long, and the build-up of gas caused him to blow up. Now, Bo’ Rai Cho’s farts are supposed to be pretty lethal, but this is really pushing it.

6.) Dairou’s Hara-Kiri (Deception/Unchained)

This is the other one that caused me to break my rule. Bo’ Rai Cho’s hara-kiri stretched the player’s suspension of disbelief to its limits, but this one punched a hole right through it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ez6pcvbDjs

Dairou’s character was that of a mercenary, formerly a police officer of the realm of Order, but killed a criminal and was imprisoned for it. Nowhere in there does it say “able to bend himself backwards”. How does that even work, anyway? I can accept ripping out your own heart or performing the Spine Rip on yourself, but literally bending backwards and breaking your own spine? Sorry, no can do.